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Friday, 29 May 2015

Tech, healthcare lead Wall St. higher; Nasdaq hits record

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Wednesday and the Nasdaq logged a record high close, led by a rebound in technology and healthcare stocks and optimism that Greece would avoid defaulting on its debt.

Reports that Athens and its creditors were near a deal pushed the euro higher against the dollar, partly reversing recent moves. EU officials, however, dismissed Greek claims an aid agreement was being drafted.

Investors said U.S. stocks were oversold in the previous session, when concerns about Greece and foreign exchange pushed Wall Street to its steepest fall in three weeks.

The S&P has inched up to a handful of record high closes in May. But the stock market has failed to make what some traders see as meaningful gains, in part because they are concerned about when the Federal Reserve will start to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006.

“People felt yesterday was an overreaction and I would agree,” said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois. “The fact that the market has been staying at its peaks for as long as it has, with only modest pullbacks, is fairly encouraging.”

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 121.45 points, or 0.67 percent, to end at 18,162.99 points. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 19.28 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,123.48 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 73.84 points, or 1.47 percent, to 5,106.59.

It was the S&P's strongest day since May 14 and the Nasdaq's strongest since late January, lifting it to its first record close since April 24.

Nine of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors ended higher, with technology .SPLRCT up 1.82 percent and the health .SPXHC index up 1.13 percent.

Broadcom (BRCM.O) surged 21.8 percent on news the chipmaker was in talks to be bought by Avago Technologies (AVGO.O). Avago jumped 7.76 percent.